USA TODAY: Wrestling getting an MMA-inspired makeover

NEW YORK – In its push to keep their sport in the Olympics, wrestling will get a makeover, the acting president of the sport’s world governing body said Tuesday.

So say goodbye to singlets and hello to shirtless Greco-Roman wrestlers. The stage too could change – why be limited by a boring square mat? Taking the lead from the MMA world, wrestling is thinking big and bold when it comes to showmanship. Incorporating staged weigh-ins, walk-out music, lighting, visual effects and video screen replays are all being discussed.

“We have to think about how to make a show because without that today, it’s difficult,” FILA acting president Nenad Lalovic told USA TODAY Sports.

Former world champion Bill Scherr, chairman of the Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling, has met with UFC chief executive Dana White and Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney. MMA stars and officials have been very supportive of wrestling’s efforts. Scherr said his sport can learn about presentation from the MMA world.

“We need to think about ways to change how the stage is presented,” Scherr said. “They compete in an octagon and we compete on a mat. We don’t have to compete on a mat. We can compete in sand, we can compete in grass and we can compete on a mat or an octagon. I don’t know. We can get survey groups together and see what looks best.”

Scherr said MMA officials have helped from the public relations perspective and partnerships may be explored in the future. However, that doesn’t mean the ancient sport is going to go the way of the armbar and head kick.

“The non-violent perspective of wrestling is not going to change,” Scherr said.

Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs is all for adding some flair to his sport.

“In face-offs it would be good to have something cool other than two guys walking on to the mat, shaking hands, wrestling, then walking off,” he said. “It shows great sportsmanship but not very good showmanship.”

Thinking beyond the mat, the U.S., Iran and Russia will compete today at Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal, in an event dubbed “The Rumble on the Rails.”

During a news conference held at the United Nations to promote the event, Dan Gable, the 1972 Olympic champion who went on to coach an NCAA dynasty at Iowa, stood in the back of the room and marveled at the three flags – American, Iranian and Russian – standing side by side.

He talked about that unity and about how the sport needs to embrace change. “I stand strong on whatever is necessary to get us back in,” Gable said.

Mike Novogratz is used to thinking big. He is chairman of the Beat The Streets program, which helps introduce the sport to city kids, runs a private equity and hedge fund group and is also a former Princeton wrestler. For branding purposes, and T-shirt sales, a two-piece uniform makes sense.

“Two pieces? Dan will probably roll over in his grave,” he said about the legend standing next to him.

“Nah. I wore a three-piece in college,” said Gable about his time at Iowa State in the late 1960s. “A shirt, tights and a pair of shorts that went over.”

Since the IOC made its recommendation in February to remove wrestling from the Summer Games beginning in 2020, the U.S., Iran and Russia, unlikely allies in the political arena, have worked together to keep wrestling in the Olympics.

Wrestling, along with seven other sports, will make its case before the IOC executive board in St. Petersburg, Russia, on May 29. The board is expected to recommend three sports for possible inclusion. A final decision on the sport to add or keep will be made in September.

Wrestling will also move forward with significant rule changes which will be announced this weekend at FILA’s congress in Moscow. “We have to make the sport more watchable and understandable for fans, otherwise we cannot acquire more fans,” Lalovic said.

Lalovic also said the sport will add two weight classes in women’s wrestling and eliminate one each in men’s freestyle and Greco-Roman. Each discipline will have six weight classes.

The uniform changes will also be discussed and implemented next year. Freestyle wrestlers would likely wear fight shorts and a tight-fitting microfiber T-shirt. Though the singlet is iconic in wrestling, it isn’t exactly fan friendly. After all who wants to wear a singlet in public?

“My own thought is to go a little more mainstream and get uniforms that look like the rest of the Olympic Games,” Scherr said.

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